Padding attachment for garment hangers



April 1, 1952 5 KW 2,591,163

PADDING ATTACHMENT FOR GARMENT HANGERS Filed Oct. 10, 1949 JIVVENTOR.ue/"ame 6. K/werr Arm/men Patented Apr. 1, 1952 OF Fl PADDING ATTACHMENTFOR GARMENT HANGERS Jerome S. Kivett, Kansas City, Mo.

Application October 10, 1949, Serial No. 120,531 1 claim.- (01. 223 -92) This invention relates to a protector for garmnts f the kind'capableof being attached to conventional garment hangers and positionedand Io'rmedto prevent misforming of the shoulders of such garments asthey are supported by the hanger.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide agarment protector having an elongated dish-like body for overlying andcovering a portion of the lowermost end of the inclined lengths of aconventional garment hanger, theipro'tector being provided with means.therewith'in for frictionally engaging the hanger and holding the samein place.

Another" object of the present invention is to provide a. garment hangeras above set forth, wherein the dish-like body is provided with aplurality of pairs of spacedears depending from theinner'iace thereofand embracing the hanger, the ears being resilient and biased toward theanger portion to be gripped whereby to hold the entire protector on thehanger.

Fig. 1 isaside elevationalview of a conventional garmenthange'r showinga pair of padding attachments for such hanger, mounted thereon and madein accordance with my present inven- Fig"; Zisan enlarged inverted planview of one of"thje attachinents per sel Fig. 3 is a cross-sectionalview taken on line III-III of Fig. 2 showing a portion of the hangermounted therewithin.

Fig. 4 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line IV--IV ofFig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the uppermost end of one of the attachments.

Fig. 6 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line VI-VI of Fig.3; and

Fig. 7 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line VII--VII ofFig. 3. i

It is quite well known that conventional hangers, particularly the kindthat are made from a single piece of wire, are, when placed in use, notentirely satisfactory because of the fact that the same tends to outinto the shoulder of the garment thereby presenting an unattractivecrease. The damaging effect to the garment including the shoulder padsthereof and the shoulders generally, can be eliminated through use of aprotector of the kind about to be described. Such protector is adaptedfor mounting on ahanger such as illustrated inF-ig. 1 oi" the draw-'-ing and broadly designated" by the, numeral l-U. However, it willhereinafter appear that the protector might well be adapted forvirtually any type of clothes hanger of the kind shown in Fig; 1 whetheror not the same is of wire formation.-

e protector per Se comprises a dish-like, hollow body [4. Body M isprovided with a top wall I6 taking the substantially elliptical shapeillustrated in Fig. 2 and including a. pair of longitudinal edges l8 andthat diverge as one rounded end 22 thereof is approached.

The opposite end of the wall it is-al'so rounded as at 24 but the arc ofthe end 22 is appreciably greater than that of the end- 24. The'topwa'll [6 of the body It is provided with a continuous down-turnedflange 26 integral with the top [6 and projecting from the edges I8, 20,22 and 21. It is noted that the flange 26 is flared outwardly withrespect to the wall l4 throughout the' entire length of the flange 26;Also, as illustrated clear- 1y in Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive, the points ofmerger I8, 28, 22 and 24 between the top l6' and the flange 25, arerounded or arcuate. The widthof the flange 26 is greatest adjacent theend 22 of the top wall It and such thickness of the flange 2'5progressively decreases as the end 24 isapproached. Consequently, thetwo longitudinal stretches of the flange that are integralwith the edgesI8 and 20 of top wall l6, are identical and progressively decrease inwidth as illustrated in Fig. 3 as the end edge 24 of wall 16- isapproached.

The entire dish-shaped body [4 is placed upon one of the inclinedlengths 28 or 30 of the hanger In in covering relationship thereto andadjacent horizontal stretch 32 of the hanger I0.

The flange 26 is cutaway into a notch 34 at the end 24 thereof forclearing the stretch 28 or 30 of hanger I!) as the case may be and asillustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing. Consequently, that part of thehanger within the body l4 rests upon the innermost face of the wall l6.

It is noted also that hangers ID are conventionally provided with arounded portion 36 that interconnects the stretches 28 and 3D with the 3stretch 32. Accordingly, the end 22 of flange 26 is rounded inconformity with such rounded portion 36 to provide a complementary fit.

The innermost face of top wall It of body [4 is provided with a pair ofopposed, down-turned ears 38 and 4|], spaced just inwardly from thenotch 34 and preferably integral with the wall l6. Normally, thedistance between the ears 38 and 40 "is less than the diameter of thewire from which hanger I is made and the entire body [4 is made ofresilient material to the end that the stretch 28 or Slimay be forcedinplace between the ears 3B and 40. Through such resilient character ofthe ears 38 and 40, the stretch 28 or will be gripped tightly andfurther held against the inner face of wall It through the medium ofupwardly facing shoulders 42 on the proximal faces of the ears 38 and40. The shoulders 42 therefore, underlie the proximal portion of thehanger l0 and therefore, hold the same in place.

A pair of ears 44 and 46 are likewise formed on the innermost face ofwall It and depend therefrom adjacent the end 22. The ears 44 and 46extend downwardly and outwardly toward the fiange26 in portions 48 and50 rigid with the flange 26, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Downturnedears 44 and 46 are likewise provided with shoulders 52 on the proximalfaces thereof and facing upwardly for underlying the proximal portion ofthe hanger against the inner face of wall [6. Ears 44 and 46 beingintegral with the'resilient wall l6 are normally spaced a distance lessthan the diameter of thewire from which hanger I0 is made and,therefore, grip the same when the body [4 is in place. It is seen thatthrough the portions 48 and 50 of the ears 44 and 46 embracing andreceiving a portion of the arcuate end 36 of the hanger l0, body I4 willbe held in place and against tipping or rotative movement on therespective stretch 28 or 36.

The entire protector I2 is easily snapped into place upon the hanger IDas desired and maybe left thereon indefinitely as desired. When thehanger I0 is placed in use with a pair of the protectors l2 thereon inthe manner illustrated in Fig. 1, such protectors I2 will receive andunderlie the shoulders and shoulder pads of virtually any type ofgarment and thereby protect the same throughout the time that thegarment is thus supported.

The oval shape of the wall it and the inclined or arcuate flange 26thereof, conforms to the shoulder and holds the same in its normalintended contour. There are no sharp edges or other projections thatwill tend to produce a crease or other unattractive conformation'in thegarment as the same hangs on the support It).

It is contemplated that the entire body M be molded or otherwise formedfrom a suitable attractive plastic in various colors but it isunderstood that other materials might well be used,

Ii] and holding the same easy to apply or remove from the hanger I0 orhangers of such character as desired.

Slight modifications may be made in the protector herein illustratedeither for use with a hanger such as shown or similar types of hangersWithout departing from the spirit of this invention as defined by thescope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

For a wire garment hanger having a normally horizontal stretch, aninclined length, and an arcuate end portion, a garment protectorcomprising an elongated, dish-shaped body of resilient material adaptedto overlie said inclined length of the hanger and having a flat topwall, a continuous downturned flange provided with a notch at one endthereof for receiving said inclined length of the hanger, and an arcuateportion at the opposite end of the body conforming in shape to andengaging said arcuate end portion of the hanger; a pair of spaced clipsdepending from and integral with said top wall adjacent the notch; asecond pair of clips depending from the top wall and integral therewithengage the arcuate end portion-of the hanger to cooperate with saidarcuate portion of the body in holding the body against reciprocablemovement on said inclined length of the hanger.

JEROME S. KIVETT. 1

REFERENCES CITED 7 The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

